Delhi HC reduces 90-year-old convict’s 3-year sentence to a day

“Such inordinate delay is plainly at odds with the constitutional mandate of a speedy trial envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution. The ‘Sword of Damocles’ and uncertainty qua the fate of the case of the appellant have been uncertain for a period of nearly 40 years, and that by itself is a mitigating factor.”

The convict, Surendra Kumar, was employed as the chief marketing manager at the State Trading Corporation of India. He was arrested for one day in 1984 for demanding a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a supplier of dried fish. He was then released on bail.

In October 2002, he was sentenced to three years in jail under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Kumar did not challenge his conviction but sought that his sentence be set off against the period of incarceration which he has already undergone. “A vital mitigating factor in considering the sentence is the appellant‘s advanced age. At 90 years old, suffering from serious health ailments, he is highly vulnerable to the physical and psychological impact of incarceration,” the court recorded.